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Title: Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes ISBN: 0-679-73136-9 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 27 November, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.63 (19 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Can a francophile be Joyce's heir?
Comment: I picked up this book at a friend's recommendation. It is the first (but certainly won't be the last) book I've read by Barnes. Although the story putatively deals with an aging scholar's research into (and physical search for) Loulou, a parrot mentioned in Flaubert's "Un coeur simple," it covers much larger issues--the relationship of art and life, the dubious nature of literary legacies, the value and role of medicine, the status of women, the importance (or lack of: discuss) marital fidelity. Barnes certainly has a great love and deep knowledge of French literature, but the writing style he adopted for this novel reminds me more of James Joyce's Ulysses with each chapter employing a different literary genre while cleverly linking across chapters to other key thoughts and themes. Its comparative brevity (just over 200 pages), however, makes it easier for the (committed) reader to master and enjoy than Joyce's masterpiece. There's a lot here to explore and think about, and the more effort readers put into it the more they'll get out of it. On my first read through, I mostly enjoyed the Flaubert trivia; upon rereading I plan to pay closer attention to the doctor/scholar-narrator in order to discover more clues about his burdens, motives, and obsessions.
Although it probably helps to have read a lot of Flaubert before diving into this novel, I think the only book the reader really needs to be familiar with is "Madame Bovary."
Rating: 5
Summary: Quaint, quirky, literate ,& ultimately, vastly entertaining
Comment: This may be the most unusual book I've ever read.
Sort of a philosophical treatise on art, writing, Flaubert, the French, compulsion and love presented under the guise of a very arcane literary detective story.
Barnes is a very quixotic and imaginative writer with a definitely skewed view of the world and an engaging and witty writing voice. The musings of the narrator are well formed and allow the reader move along at a brisk pace. It helps that Flaubert himself was a wacky and iconoclastic figure-one of those people we've all heard of but don't really know anything about unless you are some sort of 19th century French literature freak.
This was the first Barnes novel I read and it was so good I have been slowly working my way through his other books, which has proven to be an altogether delightful experience. All of his novels are good-this one stands out from the pack.
Rating: 5
Summary: What color are Loulou's wings?
Comment: You have to have read Madame Bovary (or maybe Cliff's notes on Madame Bovary) to understand the plot. You don't have to have read "Un Coeur Simple" but you probably will after reading this. It's not until three-quarters of the way through that you suddenly realize there's a plot. Until then it's a series of very clever biographical essays about Flaubert. Then you understand why the narrator it obsessed with Flaubert. Then you get equally clever essays about the nature of love and grief. Wonderful insight into the poignancy of bereavement combined with sharp and erudite wit. It may be too erudite and clever for some. It demands a certain amount of francophilia and anglophilia, and understanding phrases like "I might let the TLS have it." I'd always thought it was Nabokov, not Starkie who accused Flaubert of getting mixed up about the color of Emma's eyes. I think he did get get mixed up about the color of Loulou's wings in Un Coeur Simple- at least in the English translation I read.
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Title: A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes ISBN: 0679731377 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 27 November, 1990 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: England, England by Julian Barnes ISBN: 0375705503 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 11 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Talking It Over by Julian Barnes ISBN: 0679736875 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 27 October, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Time's Arrow by Martin Amis ISBN: 0679735720 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 29 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert ISBN: 0553213415 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 June, 1982 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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